Early cars don't have the middle third reinforcement layer at the base of the A pillar. My early 72 has it. My early 70 doesn't. I'm not sure if 71's do, or even late 70's — maybe a half year thing? I was hoping that maybe if you have a 70 or 71 you might look under there and see and we could figure out when it changed?

You can see the bottom of it underneath the cowl — I think it's visible in an assembled car anyway (I don't have one to check )

Here's a pic of up under the passenger side cowl, you can see the triangular bit that is the bottom of the a pillar reinforcement, outlined below in red.

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Here's my 70 that doesn't have it

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Here's a pic of it revealed, my 72.

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and a pic of the same on my 70 that doesn't have the center reinforcement.

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I believe the shape of the cowl, the rear top of the fender, and even the doors changed shape along with this change. I'm hoping to find donor metal, and without knowing when it changed, I don't know what to look for.

Anyone that has a 70 or a 71 could you check yours and let me know?

just a wild thought @nathanxnathan

do you reckon the cowl reinforcement, changes to cowl and door shape might have something to do with the hole they cut in there for the outbooard ventilation ducts to dashboard that came in after 72 or whenever it was?

i dunno. but your photos really made me think about it.

Hey @wonkipop . That's a good thought, but I an thinking that 71 model year is when it changed..maybe. The dash vents came about in 72 model year.

Looking at the shape of the cowl panel fender junction on my 70, the non reinforced a pillar cowl has a thinner shape, less triangular/more linear. Here a 72 cowl (white) with a restoration design replacement panel below, and my 70 panel below that. It's like the curve is moved back about a quarter inch which makes the part just below the a pillar very thin/linear. I assume that the cars with the a pillar reinforcement have the thicker cowl "ends".

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I went on bring a trailer and brought up every 70 and every 71 car and looked for the best pic if any of the cowl panel/fender junction, and it looks like the 71 cars have the triangular/thicker late shaped cowl. It's hard to tell for certain on a lot of them, but I'd say it's 70 model year that it changed. I think the late 70 my cars might have the late panel though. It looks like around vin 29010000 to 29013000 it went back and forth, but it's hard to say for certain as the pics are not the best of that area a lot of the time.